Nice – Qs probably the driest and most dusty they have been all year today. Kept passing Saddle Skeddale landies & groups of riders up an down the trail (Triscombe/ Beacon Hill). Am wondering now why we didn't stop for cream tea looking at that pic Knottie. Oh and I got stung by a wasp down Weacombe the other day – pesky little critters… 8O

Like others I'm a bit of a serial mag buyer.

I want STW to be good cause it was the magazine that was closest to mags of old that I liked e.g. MTB world when it first started up. Obviously interests & tastes eb and flow and I don't expect to like all the issues. But like others I'm starting to see the cumulative effect of stuff in the mag that annoys me sufficiently to consider cancelling my sub (I was one of the people that pre-sub'd the first issue so you guys could get going…).

Things that I'm liking less as time goes on include:
– the clique referenced writing that someone else also mentioned which is over the place, especially annoying in the reviews when you just want to know if stuff works or not
– STW deciding they are downhillers – leave it to Dirt they do it better
– naff girly articles – this month's Bike Mag is a good e.g of an intelligent, interesting female slanted contribution
– 'pics of my summer' – not interested, they're crap, I can do that myself, show me something that inspires me to ride
– those 'fitness' columns – thankfully not in this month – full of self-referential stuff taking up inches of copy and not offering any useful advice at all

I do think mags suffer when they go to more issues, and would be quite happy to see a return to bimonthly if the quality went back up. There's still plenty to like afterall – the design and photograpic quality remains much better than most of the other mags. I appreciate that loads of work goes into all the production so am hoping that STW will continue to read and listen to reader commentary. :-)

Can't be bothered to read all those posts zzzz but agree with BWD – I quite like Bike and this month's issue is a cracker. It's the first time I've seen a mag do some focused stuff on women that isn't patronising or just plain crap, and I suspect is content that most blokes would be interested in reading too. About time. Otherwise confess to reading almost all the mags at some point through the year, but consistently come back to Dirt/ST as the only ones that really capturing what biking is about for me.

It's gone up since I did mine then. Started in 1996 – I think, it's all a blur these days… 8O I got around £8.5k/ yr for 3 and a bit years tax free (ESRC and industry sponsored). And that was a bit higher than most at the time, cause I was 26 and a 'mature' student apparently…

Oh well that's just fine then :wink: Plenty of suggestions there to keep you happy. Tis always difficult on new rides, areas like the Qs need lots of exploration to realise the full potential. Hard to get bored with so much variety on offer.

like adh says loads, but then if you were one of the guys riding through Holford, topless and shouting … you may need to speak very nicely and get dressed first before the locals show you their best bits. :roll:

I can see three, but want to see the rest!

Holey Trail are fab – whole new drive train saved our Xmas hols one year done in the morning of the day, while we had tea and cakes. Go armed with beer and cake – you'll be welcome. :D

There was a massive long thread on this the other day – do a quick search. :-)

SiB – which bank is that? I'm still waiting for the FSA to sort out getting back PPI on a loan – ironically from the Bank which is the subject of the OP's rant. b*****ds.

We've met people walking at various trail centres over the years. Some encounters more memorable than other. Woman with loose dog and 3 puppies on rocky section at end of CyB just above the car park – chaos … man walking up the final Wall descent – near miss, large group of walkers (kids, dogs etc) on the Marin, man eating lunch all spread out on bend of trail on the Marin – again, man with dog running down part of the descent on the Witches trail – didn't move or control dog – dog nearly ran over.

Depending on my mood/ speed of travel at that point on the trail … I will typically stop and explain that this is a bike trail, and they are potentially putting themselves and other trail users at danger by walking/ running/ on them.

Most of the people I've spoken to didn't realise … those neat little paths look so inviting don't they… but equally they also don't seem to care much about the potential pitfalls. While I agree with comments about riding safely and expecting the unexpected etc – trail centres are places where it should be fair to assume that the traffic you encounter is predominantly other bike users.

It's the danger aspect of walkers on designated trails that bothers me most and I'm reminded of reading about the crash at Golspie where a rider was seriously injured coming over a jump and landing on several women who were bimbling up oblivious.

Switchbacks?

Yeah, I've got both of those. Some overlap – Kenny's book arguably more 'wild' but I really like the VOutdoor one for the info/ mapping etc If you like pouring over books as part of the anticipation of riding then I'd get it. Oh and Bothy Bikes defo had the Kenny book in when we were up there in June if you can't be arsed waiting. :-)

Thanks have done the usual trawling :wink:- was just wondering if anyone had experiences of anywhere that they might especially recommend.

Pretty please … anyone.

I've got the Gore ones too – they are really good + they pack into a little back pocket stuff sack, so perfect for stashing in the backpack. If you really don't want to spend that much then I think Altura do some womens waterproof shorts around the £40 ish mark. Get her the Gore ones – she's worth it. :D

Another vote for Charge – only £20 from Minx.

In answer to the OP no this really shouldn't happen and yes is is very annoying! We have several bikes with Hope Pro2 20mm all running Pikes. One bike is fine but the other two have said 'wheel wobble'. Conversations with Hope elicited 'tighten the maxel up more' – er right… 8O and 'change the bearings' .. on a brand new wheel..!! Apparently there has been some talk of dodgy bearing batches but a change of bearings hasn't made any difference. And yes it is noticeable when riding. So, if anyone ever gets to the bottom of this then would be really interested to know. The solution so far has been to buy a new wheel. Nuke Proof hubs – all good so far.

OK – in that case you might get away with something quite minimal, couched in general terms as they will be ticking certain boxes. But now you're talking about boats too so your business isn't just office based … Check carefully what they are asking for, and if it's not clear then phone them for clarification. Oh and maybe ask aP to get on the case and stop sulking :wink:

Why are you doing it?
What's it for?
Who is the intended audience?
Do you know what your main impacts & effects are in relation to sustainable development criteria?
Do you have any programmes for managing what you do or improving/ reporting your performance?
How do you deal with wider social issues?
Do you have any sustainable development policies to speak of?

For good advice you need to be able to answer these questions and some.
Otherwise just do what lots do and write some crap about how the company is committed to sustainable development and continuous improvement.

Ah but the Wire is repeated back to back on Fri eves at stupid o'clock in the morning. Set recorder and then watch in one go at your leisure. Am totally loving the Wire, class telly.

This is on the Cwmdown webpage – sorry can’t do the linky thingy…

http://www.cwmdown.co.uk/blog/northshore-drops-removed-from-freeride-section

Still going… can see everyones’ points but still agreeing with Zokes on this one.

I loved those bombers I did … :D credited with giving me the confidence to hurl myself off rocky stuff. Not bad for a girl in the days when you really didn’t see that many on the trails 8) but that’s a whole other thread methinks :wink: It’s all biking and it’s all good, roll on the weekend.

Zokes with bit between teeth… :wink: … but the point is well made CyB DID have character, it was root, rocky and techy and very natural in a challenging & interesting way. I learnt a lot riding there in the early days – the Adam descents were classics that are sadly no more. I have fond memories of cleaning the whole thing succesfully for the first time on my old Zaskar repleat with orange Z1 bombers… :-)

I’m with Zokes on this one. There’s always going to be people who enjoy the trails as they are now, but the changes have killed it for me.

Craaazy world or what, at our previous house we had a shared access across the front of our house. If we stopped to load/unload for anything longer than a few minutes our neighbour would drive his car out and insist he had to leave urgently and that we should move. Needless to say we had a lot of fun with this one…. As some have said though, this stuff can go from funny to confrontational so quickly that diplomacy really is the only sensible way. That or move – which is what we did eventually – hurray for off road private parking and gate to keep the blighters out! :wink:

Interesting thread cause we’ve been looking at moving north and the whole ‘offers over’ and sealed bid stuff all seems a bit random and hard to fathom. I too worry that we’d sell our house (hopefully!) and then end up watching properties come and go as we got outbid…. 20% over the asking price seems totally ridiculous to me in this market, but then I’ve always thought that a house is worth what someone is prepared to pay and if someone else can come along with that sort of cash then so be it.

Interested to know how you go :-)

Marmite is super cute! I know it’s wrong but I really want one… :wink:

he he scruff, I did time with Defence Estates… and yes it’s all in the ground cause the solution back then was to bury it and generally forget where you put it !!!.. Actually, we haven’t really learned have we cause that’s still the solution now …just look at the proposals for long term management of nuclear waste.

I’m a sustainable development consultant … it’s all policy, strategy, assessment and appraisal for me so nothing practical I’m afraid. However the environmental jobs market has been steady or growing ever since I started 15+ years ago … god is it really that long. For background you might want to look at the sector surveys that people like ENDS and IEMA do which shows what and where the growth areas are and define to some extent what those jobs entail. For what it’s worth talking of ‘green’ jobs and ‘green’ companies etc is very 1980/90s and most people now describe the sector in terms of sustainable development or ‘corporate responsibility’ (sic)of which practical environmental jobs are a component.

My soundtrack to work this am. I really like it.. needs playing loud, great for travelling. Really like Kingdom of Rust single, Winter Hill, 10.03 … actually I pretty much like it all.

Stayed in the Eagles recently. It was OK – but ‘luxury’ bunkhouse may be stretching the meaning of the term somewhat. People were friendly enough but they didn’t do food… which seemed to be missing an obvious opportunity. Parking is hit and miss and I can relate to the perception above that it’s not somewhere you’d want to stop, as there’s not much to put pay to that.

The issues about the trail being community led and FCs involvement – or not – aren’t obvious I suspect to many, so anything that provides a clearer view of how the trails are supported and how visitors can help to ensure that the trail is sustained/ maintained in the future would undoubtedly by welcomed – as witnessed by those who said they would have donated if they’d known.

It’s a great trail and it would be shame to see the facility lost because of the issues highlighted.

Was cursing the headwind riding in this am, it’s like it literally blows away your energy. Turned into a lovely tailwind when i finally dropped onto the canal though.. :-)

Oh yes, two weeks of Scottish riding, kicking off with a weekend of watching how it should be done. Can’t wait either! :P

Lexie the answer is obviously yes, good grief girl!

Mr Agreeable has it on the uplift – had a go the other day for the first time. As a girl you’ll get an extra bit of ‘sizing up’ which is quite funny or you may get asked as I did… ‘so why mountain biking then?’ – ya what??? – cause the needlepoint got boring… duh…

It’s a confidence thing, the bike won’t make you Tracy Mosley – but if it fits properly and you enjoy riding it then you’ll feel more confident and with that comes better skills and more fun on the trails.

Yes so I see!!! At the risk of jinxing it – the weather is often like that when we road trip up to the Highlands… I just pretend to our friends back here in the South that it’s rubbish, nothing to see at all… :-) Thanx for that – rock hopping skills up :( but down :D

Wow, great views, stunning weather. How long did it take you to get round? Any hike-a-bike in that? – sorry being lazy and not looking a the map properly. :wink:

As has been said, you did the right thing. Having spent many years traversing the countryside on said beasts I can also testify to their random responses. Depends on so many variables – no matter how well the rider knows horse/ is competent etc. Usually I find that the horse will clock you on a bike long before the rider, but I always do as you did and hail the rider to say where I am/ will be passing. Give warning, slow right down, wide bearth – tis the best you can do. Hedges have their uses too 8O

Absolutely stunning, doesn’t get better than that. Can hardly wait till June when we are packing up and making our annual road trip north. Totally agree, there’s so much in this country to see. :D